


Icing On The Cake

by Morpheus626



Category: Queen (Band)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25534153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morpheus626/pseuds/Morpheus626
Summary: So I’ve never written fic for a band member’s birthday before, but seeing all the wonderful edits and gifs today on Tumblr for Roger’s put this in my head; I figured why not go for it and get something cute written up!Set during the 1982 Hot Space North American Tour (aka one of the few tours that had a lot of summer dates, going through their concertography seems Rog was lucky in that his birthday could usually be spent at home/while not touring!)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Icing On The Cake

“Roger, you really ought to wake up.” 

“Is that so,” Roger mumbled, and turned over on the set of van seats he had taken as his bed. “Why don’t you wake me when it’s an emergency.” 

“It is!” 

“It’s too quiet for it to be an emergency, Brian,” Roger scoffed, eyes still screwed shut. “Also, don’t you think an emergency in the van would have involved me by now in some way? In case of an accident, or whatever.” 

“Well, we’d like it to involve you!” 

“Oh, that’s so kind of you. ‘Look everyone, something terrible is happening. Rog has been happily sleeping through it, we ought to bring him into the trouble as well, it’s only fair.’ Is that the logic here?” 

Brian sighed in exasperation, and Roger settled in again as he heard him walk away and the door to the van slam. 

That made him pop up. “When did we stop?” 

“Ten minutes ago!” Brian called through the window. “Now will you get up? We need you for something!” 

He staggered up and to the door, only to have John stop him from walking out of it. “Well, not out here. We have a question.” 

“How is this three to four hour drive now feeling like it’s going to take much longer?” Roger muttered. “Okay, so I’m trapped but I must be awake. Fine. Great. Wonderful. What is this all important question?” 

“If you had to have a cake, right this second, what kind would you get?” 

Roger stared at John, put a hand on his shoulder for a moment, then shook his head and headed back to lay down. 

“Is that marble? That seems like an answer that says marble,” John said as Roger shut the door. 

“For fuck’s sake,” Roger grumbled to himself. “It says all I want is an uninterrupted nap before the next show. What on earth is wrong with them today?” 

He settled back on his section of seats, ignoring the sounds of everyone clambering on board again. The only time he moved was to let Freddie sit near him, and bless Freddie for simply plucking up his legs, sitting down, then dropping them back on his lap so he didn’t have to really move at all. 

“We’ve got a few hours time!” the shout of Crystal outside of the bus woke him with a start. “Relax, eat, do whatever the fuck you want. I’ll get Rog up, you all head in.” 

He rolled over and sat back up before Crystal could make it in, and met him at the door of the van. “I’m up, I’m here. Ready for an actual bed.” 

“Are you alright?” Crystal asked. “Not going to spend the while tour napping in between shows, are you?” 

“Maybe my age is getting to me,” Roger joked. “I’m terribly old now, Crystal. Ready for naps and soft food and a cute nurse.” 

“That’s right! In a few hours you’re what, thirty-two?” 

“Thirty-three, but thank you for trying to give me a year back,” Roger laughed, grabbing his bags from the van and walked to the hotel entrance. “Now, I know there’s no food or nurse, but I will take the rest of my nap.” 

“Ah,” Crystal stuttered, and stopped him as they reached the elevator in the hotel lobby. “You can. Just not yet.”

“What do you mean, ‘not yet?’ Are the rooms not ready? We aren’t early, are we?” Roger pondered, and checked his watch. 

“No, we’re right on time for once. Just...this is a really lovely lobby, don’t you think?” 

Roger gave the room a glance. “It’s fine, I suppose. Looks like a lot of other hotel lobbies. Is everything okay?” 

“Fine,” Crystal said, dodging to block him as he tried to approach the nearby staircase instead of the elevators. “Ehm. I need to check with the front desk on something. Wait here, go nowhere, talk to no one!” 

Roger shook his head as Crystal jogged to the front desk, discussing something in great detail with the clerk. “Maybe I’m still sleeping. This seems like a dream. A weird one, but I’ve had weirder. Like that time with Freddie and the stall getting set on fire...” 

Crystal ran back, grinning. “Okay! You are allowed upstairs now! To your room, go we!” 

“Oh, well, what a great honor,” Roger tutted. “To be allowed in the room that my money is going towards renting for me to use. What next, shall I be allowed to sleep in the bed? Use the bathroom? I am humbled, I really am.” 

“Oh shut it,” Crystal teased. “It’ll be worth it, just you see.” 

“Ooh, don’t keep me in suspense,” Roger laughed as he followed Crystal up the stairs, not even bothering with the elevator now (perhaps there would be some reason he’d have to wait to use that, after all.) “Did you find me that cute nurse we discussed? Or is everyone up there setting up a walker for me to use or something?” 

“You know, Freddie and Brian are older than you, what would they say to hear you talk like that?” 

“The old ladies would be fine,” Roger smiled. “Probably happy I’m joining the brigade of the elderly.” 

Crystal shook his head, and opened the door to Roger’s room. “Alright. There you are, Grandpa.” 

He stepped inside, and immediately dropped his bags as everyone else jumped out at him. “Jesus fucking Christ!” 

“No, that’s Christmas, Rog,” John said. “This is for your birthday!” 

He took in the room. It wasn’t much, but for the few nights they would be spending in New York, it was more than he would have expected. 

A cake, big enough to share with everyone (and according to the label on the package, a marble cake.) 

An attempt at decorations, mostly streamers, tossed about the room. 

And a few presents, that appeared to be wrapped in-

“Did...did you wrap them in some of my shirts?” 

“We did actually look for wrapping paper at the store we stopped at, but honestly, we were just lucky they had a bakery and any decorations; it was a really small store,” Brian sighed. “So we stole a few of your shirts while you slept. Consider it like double the presents.” 

“Except some of them are things you already owned, but now you have them back again,” Freddie interjected. “Now it isn’t much, and I know you just want to rest, so we’ll go for now, but...we wanted to do something for you.” 

Roger grinned. “No, you won’t go. Look at all of this! And you actually managed to keep it a secret! Well, except for the cake, I mean.” 

“How so?” Freddie asked. “John and Brian were supposed to ask you if you’d want anything from the bakery, and we were going to hopefully extrapolate from that the sort of cake you might want.” 

“Ah,” Brian winced. “It didn’t...that’s not exactly what we asked. I may have been a bit tired myself when you asked me to do that, come off a bit-” 

“Like a grumpy ass?” Roger smiled. 

“You slammed the van door in John’s face, how do you think you came off?” Brian asked. 

“Like a grumpy, tired, ass, which is exactly what I had intended,” Roger said. “Though I am sorry about that, John.” 

John waved the apology away. “S’alright. Could have done worse, and I got to choose the cake as a result. Really ended up well, actually.” 

“Well then,” Freddie said with a clap of his hands. “If we’re all decently rested enough, then the party is on! At least until we have to leave for the venue.” 

As they settled in, cake being dished out and drinks retrieved from a cooler, Roger pulled Freddie aside. 

“Now how on earth did you all think this up? We don’t normally go to so much trouble anymore for things like this.” 

Freddie shrugged. “True. But we all started talking, found out that we’d each been planning on finding something we could do for you for your birthday, then figured we may as well just make it a group effort. And we may have slowed on celebrating these things while on tour, but we figured we should start it up again. It’s long days and hard work, and I think that means if we’ve an opportunity for a little party and relaxation, we ought to take it!” 

“Well, thank you for this,” Roger said. “Honestly. I’d been sort of ignoring the thought of my birthday, focusing on the tour, you know-” 

“I do,” Freddie said. “You don’t nap like that unless you’re specifically trying to ignore something.” 

“Right,” Roger continued. “But this is lovely, and I really do appreciate it. And all of you, as well.” 

“Was that an expression of love I heard?” John asked, leaning over to wrap Roger in a huge. “How sweet, we love you too, Rog! Come on, everyone get in on this!” 

“Oh Christ,” Roger laughed. “I’ll take it back!” 

“Too late,” Brian said. “You’re stuck with us!” 

“Here’s to many more years of my being stuck with you all then,” Roger said. “And you with me!” 


End file.
